It seems that a lot of people I went to high school with ended up moderately famous. Have you ever seen one of your former classmates on TV or otherwise in the public eye? Was it as weird for you as it is for me?

-- Anonymous, April 25, 2001

Answers

Well, I graduated with 12 other people from a high school in very rural Missouri, and I was elected "Most Likely To Succeed", so my answer would be, "No, didn't go to school with anyone of public interest." These people are more likely to end up on the evening news as one of those sad apples whose mobile home was in the path of a tornado. In fact, I'm organizing our five-year class reunion at the moment, and of the 13 of us, seven are already parents (we're 22-23 years old). One already has three children. There will be more offspring present at the reunion than actual alumni. But, hell, with a group of people like that, *I* was Most Likely To Succeed.

-- Anonymous, April 25, 2001

A classmate I didn't really know (since he was cool and I wasn't) was on "Unsolved Mysteries". He became high-school-famous after taking a mannequin to the prom -- not the kind of thing you normally do in conservative small town schools in the early 80's. After graduation he and a few of his friends moved to L.A. to live in the big city together. A few months later he disappeared. According to the story he had gone to deposit a check in an ATM machine and that was the last time anyone saw him. "Unsolved Mysteries" interviewed his roommates who I all remembered from classes. They were all convinced that he was still alive and spent all of their spare time looking for him.

Months later the police found his car and his body. A robber jumped him at the ATM and forced him to withdraw all of his money but his account was nearly empty. The only money he had was the check he was depositing and he couldn't withdraw that money until it had cleared. The thief was determined to get that money so he stole his car and for the next several days repeatedly forced him to withdraw the money at ATM's all over L.A. The police had ATM security pictures of him with his kidnapper standing right behind him. Once the the check cleared, it was over.

Yes this was very very weird.

-- Anonymous, April 25, 2001

I went to school with Joan and John Cusack and Jeremy Piven. Unlike most people we went to school with who are still in Evanston, I don't claim to have been close friends with any of them. I barely even knew who they were since I was pretty cool and they were theater dorks. They hung out at Jeremy's parents' Piven Theater Workshop. (Aidan Quinn and Lily Taylor also came from there.) Thinking of John Cusack as this studly leading man makes me laugh. Actually, it makes me laugh more than Joan's new TV show. My sister had some friends who were theater dorks so they knew the Piven Theater crew pretty well. One day the phone rang at our house and it was for my sister. She hung up laughing. When I asked what she was laughing about, she told me Jeremy and her friend Kris had had sex for the first time and Kris was bleeding all over the sheets. Kris told Jeremy to call my sister and ask her what to do. My sister told him to wash the sheets with cold water and to do it quickly!

-- Anonymous, April 25, 2001

Went to high school with Kevin Smith and 90% of the people in his films. Actually used to hang out with Jason Mewes when he was known by the nickname "Shubee" (don't remember why). My mother used to kick my ass when she found out I was hanging around with "that pothead" as she referred to him. Definitely trippy that he could probably buy and sell me now.

-- Anonymous, April 26, 2001

I actually saw a Jason Mewes doll in a toy store last week! I couldn't believe it.

-- Anonymous, April 26, 2001

Nobody from my high school has gone on to any great fame, at least not that I know of. Of course I did have to look up Jason Mewes to find out who he is... yes, I did see Clerks and Mallrats and Dogma (twice) but didn't remember his name... And once I was at a supermarket checkout counter and two different magazines had the same young woman's face on the cover and one of them proclaimed her to be the star of the year or something and I laughed 'cause I ddin't have a clue about who the hell this celebrity might be (nor why she was so famous)... so I looked in the magazine and found out she was one of the women on that "Friends" sitcom (I'd tried to watch it once but it was so lame that about ten minutes was all I could take). So perhaps one of my classmates is famous and I don't know it, but I've got a reunion coming up this year and I might find out. (class of '61 - 40th reunion - where the hell did the time go?)

However, I did see one of my college roommates on television once... back during the Abscam investigation... he was an FBI agent undercover as a Middle Eastern gangster and one of the news programs showed hidden camera video of a congressman accepting a briefcase full of cash from him.

-- Anonymous, April 27, 2001

College classmate of mine was on Rescue 911 helping to save the life of a friend of his in his band. He was damn near electrocuted playing his guitar, but college classmate called 911 and started CPR. We were acquaintances, not friends, but it's still kinda bizarre to hear William Shatner pronounce his name on TV.

-- Anonymous, April 28, 2001

I saw an old high school friend of mine on this little known show called "Change of Heart." What was sad about it was that the last I had heard about her was that she was off to Oxford for graduate studies in theatre after finishing Smith in 3 years. I kept expecting to see her on some big blockbuster movie or broadway show...but here she was on this cheesy game show talking about how annoyed she was that her boyfriend of 4 or 5 months was "so into porn," and how she and the new guy the show had set her up with (the premise of the show was to test young couples) had had sex almost within minutes of meeting. Not that I'm judgemental of such activities, I just kept thinking, "Your poor mom is watching this!" Besides that I went to college with Brad Pitt at SMSU and had the same Drama coach, but Brad was 2 years older and dropped during his Junior year. Everyone said that Brad liked the frat parties a little too much.

-- Anonymous, May 01, 2001

I'm one Bacon removed from celebrity interaction; my father has been the one who's met or worked with celebrities. When he was doing local improv in Chicago, he worked with Lily Taylor (I forget her real name; she assumed Taylor when she went Hollywood). The rumor is that she got her first role in Mystic Pizza because she was sleeping with John Cusack. (And also in Say Anything, etc.). He also created a character role in 'Coed Prison Sluts' which, although somewhat notorious, was hardly a national success. But, it was (for a time) the longest running comedy in Chicago; and even had a stint in New York. He also was one of the three founding members of U.S. Robotics (but got out too early, which is why I'm not rich. :-)). I almost ran over that guy from Knight Rider (never watched the show) when they were doing filmwork on the 'L' platform downtown.

Too many Chicago references, I know.

Oh, and I was related to Marilu Henner for awhile when my biological father married her sister. So I guess I do have one direct connection. Yay.

-- Anonymous, May 01, 2001

Interesting, Forrest Rossen. If you're going to consider the U.S. Robotics guys famous, my first girlfriend used to babysit for Casey Cowell's kid when he lived on Asbury in Evanston. He was a really nice guy. Damn, that kid's got to be about twenty years old now! Also, speaking of Marilu Henner, a good friend of mine is married to her cousin. See, there are only about ten celebrities in Chicago so all our stories overlap. Got anything about Oprah?

-- Anonymous, May 01, 2001

Hi Keystoner. I remember Casey :-). He's the only one of the founding members who stayed with USR for the entire stint (I don't remember if he was still with them when they were bought out by 3Com). As for Oprah; well, once again, my father enters the picture - he spent a brief (probably a month) period working for Harpo Studios as a software consultant; although I don't think he got to actually meet her. It's funny how many celebrities actually live here, but I've never seen them. At this point, we have enough Bacon to serve breakfast. :-)

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2001

My uncle went to a private boys school in Ottawa Ontario Canada with Matthew Perry. They were about 15 and were in a play together (only small roles). My grandmother has photos. Shortly after Matthew moved to the states and my uncle switched school... but all in all pretty cool.

-- Anonymous, September 12, 2001